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$1M grant will improve walking, biking in Pottstown

Lincoln Elementary School students and family got together for a healthy walk to school last fall to highlight the benefits of walking. Many of the bicycle lanes and sidewalk improvements paid for by the grant will be focused on Safe Routes to School. (Photo by John Strickler/The Mercury)

This map, which accompanied the $1 million grant application, shows where the bike and walking improvements will be implemented. (Courtesy of Pottstown Borough)

POTTSTOWN — A $1 million grant has been awarded to the borough to help create and improve safe walking and biking routes in town, particularly around schools.

This grant, awarded by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, is just part of an overall $2 million effort, which was first unveiled last year, to improve walking and biking opportunities within the borough.

Assistant Borough Manager Erica Weekley, who confirmed the awarding of the grant, said the $1 million grant is complimented by a local match of $582,000 from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation and will pay for the first two phases of a three-phase project.

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The third phase is a $300,000 request to PennDOT for sidewalk improvements along the routes outlined in the project. The decision on that grant will not come until later in the year, she said.

Add to this $225,000 the borough already received from a federal Safe Routes to School grant — and borough council’s decision last month to make Walnut Street in front of Barth Elementary School one way — and it adds up to more than $2.1 million for improvements to borough streets and sidewalks and improve safety around schools, Weekley confirmed.

“But we have to work quickly,” Weekley said. “The first two phases have to be engineered and put out to bid by September of 2016.”

Added Weekley, “that might not sound like its very quick, but when you consider all the planning and PennDOT permits we’ll need to do the work, it’s a pretty tight schedule.”

The first phase of the project will extend the bike lanes now on High Street east to Roland Street and then down Roland to create a loop around Rupert Elementary School. The route will also extend up Roland to Jackson Street and west along Jackson Street to the Pottstown High School and Pottstown Middle School campus.

Although the funding does not call for any road re-paving, Weekley said the borough intends to adjust its paving plans — bolstered by the recent infusion of more than $60,000 in additional liquid fuels money from the state — to coordinate with the bike lane and sidewalk projects.

The second phase of the project will involve improvements along the entire length of Franklin and Evans streets, near Franklin Elementary School, as well as York and Johnson streets and the area around Lincoln Elementary School.

“We’re building on our strengths,” Weekley said. “We have certain unique assets, the Schuylkill River Trail, bike lanes and a school district that is contiguous to our borough borders and shares our desire to revitalize Pottstown.”

“This is also another example of what we can achieve when the borough and the school district work together,” Sparagana said. “When we collaborate, we accomplish a lot more. We can’t agree on everything, certainly, but its our responsibility to look for common ground and see where we can work together.”

He also said he was pleased to see the study funded by Save Our Land/Save Our Towns and undertaken two years ago by Simone-Collins and Traffic Planning and Design bear fruit in the form of this latest funding accomplishment.

“It’s good to see ideas that have come out of the community come to fruition and not be just another study that gathers dust on a shelf,” said Sparagana. “We’ve had enough of those. It’s good to see something positive come out of those efforts.”

It will also be good to improve the conditions under which children can walk safely to school, Sparagana said, noting that it is a central part of the district’s efforts to improve children’s health and instill in them the value of a healthy lifestyle that includes daily exercise.

About the Author

Evan Brandt has worked for The Mercury since November 1997. His beat includes Pottstown, the surrounding townships and the Pottstown and Pottsgrove school districts, as well as other varied general topics like politics, the environment and education. Reach the author at ebrandt@pottsmerc.com
or follow Evan on Twitter: @PottstownNews.